Software Usage

During the summer quarter, web browsers accounted for 63 percent of all software usage. A combined 66,771 hours of use was logged. Web browsers are used by students to access materials on class web pages and perform online research. With the growth of web based email, we are also seeing a greater use of the web as an email tool. This indicates that as an instructional tool, web browsers are becoming more critical a software than the more traditional applications such as word processors.

Fig. 1

Users have typically used the computer classrooms for network access, Internet research, and word processing. Figure 1 above shows the most used application types and the total use of special class modules. Web browsers include Mozilla, Safari and Internet Explorer for both MacOS and Windows platforms. Word Processors are exclusively Microsoft Word. Internet Apps include utilities for telnet and ftp. Data Analysis tools include Excel, SAS for windows, and Microsoft Access. Multimedia applications include Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator as well as Macromedia Flash.